Brown-Forman Finland

History

2023: Coca-Cola bought vodka brand owner Finlandia

In mid-June 2023, Coca-Cola announced the acquisition from Brown-Forman Netherlands BV of Brown-Forman Finland Oy, which owns the Finlandia brand. The transaction amount amounted to $220 million.

Founded in 1970 by the Finnish alcohol retail monopoly Alko, Finlandia is one of the most popular vodka producers from Central and Eastern Europe, producing 2.7 million nine-liter boxes annually. Vodka is bottled by Anora and offered in pure and flavored form, including lime, blackcurrant and raspberry, and became the first Scandinavian vodka brand imported to the United States.

Coca-Cola bought vodka maker Finlandia

Brown-Forman, owner of iconic Jack Daniels and Woodford Reserve whiskey brands, acquired a 45% stake in Finlandia in 2000 in an agreement that gave it distribution rights outside Scandinavia and parts of Eastern Europe. Until 2017, Coca-Cola owned the rights to sell Finlandia on the Russian market, but then the contract was terminated. After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, Brown-Forman stopped the export of Finlandia vodka and Jack Daniel's whiskey to Russia.

We consider this an attractive investment and the natural development of our role as one of Finlandia's distribution partners, which once again confirms the strength of our proven time and large-scale partnership with Brown-Forman! We appreciate the trust placed in us and hope to create even more value for our partners and customers by leveraging new opportunities with our extensive beverage portfolio, Coca-Cola HBC chief executive Zoran Bogdanovic said in a statement.

Coca-Cola believes the deal, expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, will help it strengthen customer relationships in important channels such as the catering sector and expand its premium liquor offering.^[1]

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